Lot 99
Mary R. McKie (ca. 1817-1887)
Lot 99 Details
Mary R. McKie (ca. 1817-1887), Halifax, NS
TWO PAINTINGS, SKETCH TAKEN FROM DARTMOUTH; MI'KMAQ MOTHER AND CHILD
watercolour on paper
titled "Sketch taken from Dartmouth" and "Squaw of the Mic-mac tribe"; titled to gallery label verso; accompanied by the original invoice noting a date of "ca. 1845", Bashford's, Calgary, AB
sight 4.5 x 4.25 in — 11.4 x 10.8 cm; sight 4 x 3.25 in — 10.2 x 8.3 cm
Estimate $6,000-$8,000
Additional Images
Provenance:
Bashford's, Calgary, AB, 8 Jul 1983
Private Collection, Calgary, AB
Loch Gallery, Calgary, AB
Private Collection, Ontario
Note:
Little information is readily available about the early painter of Nova Scotia scenes, Mary R. Mckie. Mckie studied with the artist Maria Morris Miller (1813-1875), who is often credited with being Halifax’s first woman professional visual artist.[1] A small number of McKie’s artworks were acquired during the artist’s lifetime by Lady Falkland, then wife of the Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia.[2] In 1849 Mckie exhibited at the Halifax Mechanics Institute at Dalhousie College, exhibiting again at the Nova Scotia Industrial Exhibition in 1854. In 1861 she returned to England, where in 1862 she exhibited at the London International Exhibition of Industry and Art, sometimes known as The Great London Exposition.[3]
Her drawings and watercolors are found in a small number of albums in the National Library and Archives of Canada, as well as in the collections of the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, among others. Mckie’s paintings are notable for their focus on Mi'kmaq and other non-European subjects, including African Canadians.[4]
The small number of extant artworks by Mckie, form a notable portion of the known documentation of Mi’kmaq subjects from the first half of the 19th century, a period in which first hand depictions of Indigenous peoples in Eastern Canada are exceptionally rare.
[1] Ray Cronin, “Maria Morris Miller (1810–1875)”, in Halifax Art & Artists: An Illustrated History (Canada: Art Canada Institute, 2023), retrieved from
https://www.aci-iac.ca/art-books/halifax-art-and-artists/key-artists/maria-morris-miller/
[2] Library and Archives Canada, “Portrait of an unidentified woman”, Acc. No. 1990-207-52. https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Home/Record?app=fonandcol&IdNumber=2884543&q_type_1=q&q_1=mary%20r.%20mckie&ecopy=
[3] Ibid; Concordia University, “MCKIE, Mary“, Canadian Women Artists History Initiative, https://cwahi.concordia.ca/sources/artists/displayArtist.php?ID_artist=164
[4] Library and Archives Canada, “Unidentified Portrait of an African-Canadian Boy”, Acc. No. 1990-207-94. https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Home/Record?app=fonandcol&IdNumber=2836925&q_type_1=q&q_1=mary%20r.%20mckie&ecopy=c009564k-v6